


The Healing Properties of Mints

by yujael



Series: Minty Fresh [1]
Category: Star Ocean: The Last Hope
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/M, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-01-22
Updated: 2013-01-22
Packaged: 2017-11-26 12:01:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,904
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/650306
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yujael/pseuds/yujael
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Crowe is a firm believer that there isn't any problems that a bit of mint can't solve.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Healing Properties of Mints

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted on tumblr for a writing prompt about mints. It's un beta-ed, so mistakes are all mine.

“Hey, come over here often?”

Edge jumped when he heard the voice and dropped half his change. He bent quickly to pick up the coins before they were lost forever under the vending machine and when he looked up to see who’d just scared the crap out of him, he saw the last face he expected to see.

“Crowe?” he stood up and ignored the vending machine telling him that he still needed to give it ten more cents. “What are you doing here?”

Crowe just gave him his trademark smile. “What does it look like I’m doing here? Are you done there?”

“Wha – oh,” Edge quickly turned and dropped the rest of his change into the vending machine slot. A few seconds later he had a pack of mini rice cakes in his hand. “They’re for Reimi,” he said.

Crowe shrugged. “Didn’t ask,” he pushed two buttons, dropped in a few coins and the machine gave him a package of assorted toffees. “How’d her operation go?”

“Fine, she just wanted a snack, so... yeah.” Edge ended off in a mutter. Conversation in a hospital in front of a vending machine weren’t his forte (and not because of Crowe, come on, it’s a hospital). “You still haven’t told me what you’re doing here,”

“Here for a friend,” Crowe held up the toffees, “with a craving for minty toffees.”

Crowe had more friends than one could count, so Edge just took the answer for what it was and smiled, though he still wondered who’s bed he was sitting next to. “Hope they get well soon.”

“Me too,” Crowe said with utmost sincerity. “Give my love to Reimi,” he said as he started walking back the way he’d come.

“I will,” Edge waved and returned to Reimi’s room with her miniature rice cakes.

\--

“We haven’t seen Crowe in a while,” Reimi said as she chopped a carrot.

“Makes sense, he’s travelling, isn’t he?”

“Yeah, but I’m really starting to miss him now,” the carrot was dumped into the salad with the rest of the vegetables. “It’s not the same around here without you two going at it all the time,”

Edge looked up from his paper with a mock glare. “You want me to get beat up all the time?”

Reimi laughed, “You don’t get beat up all the time,” she tapped him playfully on the head with her spoon and sobered again when she returned to the salad. “And seriously, he just got up and left one day, didn’t even say where he was going. Wasn’t he going to use the money in his savings account for his next year of University? No, he spent it all on a cross-country road trip...”

Edge sighed as Reimi began another rant about Crowe’s apparent inability to save money like any other person in his position should. “Don’t get so worked up; it’s Crowe, it isn’t like he’s going to end up on a blanket in a gutter somewhere. And besides...”

Edge thought back to the last time he’d spoken with Crowe face to face, the hallway in the hospital while Crowe purchased a bag of toffees. Was it connected?

“Is something wrong?” Reimi asked, leaning over the island counter.

Edge blinked. “Huh – well – do you remember the night of your operation?”

“Yeah, what about it?”

“I ran into Crowe while I was getting you those rice cakes, he said he was visiting a friend. That was, what, three months ago? How long has he been gone?”

“Almost three months...” Reimi hummed. She began shaking the salad bowl, tossing the ingredients together. “Bucket list, maybe?”

“Whose?”

“That’s the question, isn’t it?” Just as she reached for bowls from the cupboard, a knock came at the door of the apartment.

“I’ll get it,” Edge said, sliding out of his seat and meandering to the door. Half way down the hall he heard an ever familiar voice.

“He-ello-ooo, is anyone home? Come on Edge, you have to be there, when do you ever miss dinner? Unless – oh my, have you finally worked up the guts to ask –“

Edge quickly opened the door, already red in the face. Standing in the hallway outside the apartment was Crowe, smiling like he always did. His skin was tanned and his outfit was that of a tourist with way too much money on his hands, all signs of a recent vacation. Standing behind him and look less like they’d been on a road trip (though it was obvious they’d accompanied Crowe for some amount of time just by the fact that they weren’t starting at him like he was a mad man) was a man, slightly taller than Crowe with pale skin, silver hair and gold eyes.

It was a rather strange sight if Edge did say so himself.

“There he is, just the man I wanted to see!” Crowe exclaimed cheerily.

Edge stared at him, confused. “Crowe? What are you doing here?”

“What’s that supposed to mean? I’ve been gone three months and that’s all you have to say, not even a ‘hi, how’ve you been?’”

“Sorry, it’s just – you’ve been gone a while, Reimi and I were just wondering about you,” Edge said, running a hand through his hair and trying to ignore the way Crowe’s companion (or whoever he was) was looking at him with a sort of unyielding gaze. He turned slightly and called in the direction of the kitchen, “Hey, Reimi, guess who’s here?”

“Is that who I think it is?” As Reimi bustled out of the kitchen, Edge stepped out of the way and let Crowe and his silent friend inside the apartment and closed the door. “Crowe! What a surprise – really!”

“We just got into town,” Crowe explained as he gave his childhood friend a hug, “and I thought, we can’t pass by without stopping in! Now here we are, and before we go any further, I’d like to introduce my dear friend,” he paused to step next to his friend (who’d taken the last moment to glance around the apartment and the same, almost bored stare), “my dear friend Arumat.”

Reimi smiled, though Edge could tell that Arumat’s gaze affected her like it did him. It was almost creepy. “It’s nice to meet you, Arumat.”

Edge nodded, “A friend of Crowe’s is a friend of ours.”

Arumat nodded in greeting, the action almost like a bow, and remained silent.

“I just finished up a salad,” Reimi started, “are you just passing by or would you like to stay a bit?”

Crowe smiled, apparently speaking for both of them when he said, “Wouldn’t mind if we did.”

\--

Arumat had yet to speak more than ten words when Crowe and Edge stepped out into the sitting room, but Edge had confidence that Reimi could convince him to open up, if only because Reimi was... Reimi.

“Glad to see you’ve finally got some sense in that head of yours,” Crowe said, nodding in the direction they’d come. “How long did it take you to work up the courage to ask her to move in?”

“A month,” Edge answered quickly, standing on the opposite side of the coffee table. “But enough about me. By ‘dear friend’, do you mean -”

“Of course,” Crowe cut in just as fast. There were a few seconds of silence. It wasn’t like Edge didn’t know that Crowe swung that way, but he thought that the man would go for someone who could match his level of charisma. “Why do you ask?”

“No big reason,” Edge shrugged. His eyes landed on the bowl on the table that Reimi filled with small treats every few days. It was full of toffees this time. “That night at the hospital... Was it Arumat you were seeing?”

Crowe nodded. “Putting the puzzle pieces of my life together, Edge?”

“Sorry, I was only wondering, I mean, you left after that -”

Crowe began chuckling quietly. “Hey, don’t get embarrassed. Yeah, actually, I’m sorry about that, I didn’t really give you guys, or anyone for that matter, any notice. I bet Reimi’s ready to rip me a new one about my money all gone? Or a good chuck of it at least.”

Edge smiled. “Yeah, you might want to sleep with your eyes open tonight.”

Crowe grinned. “I should probably explain myself for that one...” he trailed off, staring in the direction of the kitchen. During the silence, Edge noticed his lips drop just so. “That night at the hospital, he was just finishing up treatment...”

“Cancer?”

“Leukemia,” Crowe rubbed the back of his neck. “Went into remission, don’t know if it’s gone or comin’ back, but...” he shrugged and let his hand drop. “He’s tough, I’m confident he can pull through if it ever does come back.”

“Now I feel like an ass,” Edge said, “I thought you went on the road because, well, that’s just something I can see you doing. So, what, was that something like a bucket list?”

“I don’t think Arumat has a bucket list,” Crowe replied, his smile returning. “Nah, I just thought, well, if not now, when? Maybe never, so we might as well do it now. And seriously, if there’s one think Reimi and Arumat can relate to, it’s my money. He kept trying to dissuade me.”

Edge chuckled, but then found nothing to say in reply. A few seconds later, Crowe knelt next to the coffee table.

“Are these toffees?”

“Hm? Yeah – go ahead,” Edge said, answering the unasked question. He watched as Crowe sifted through the bowl, picking out all the toffees wrapped in green – all the mint flavoured ones. “Craving mint?”

Crowe smiled up at him, “I am a firm believer that there isn’t any problem a bit of mint can’t help. Unless you’re allergic, of course, but fortunately, Arumat isn’t. Thanks,” he stood up and they both walked backed to the kitchen, where Reimi had indeed managed to get Arumat to speak, as he was listing all the instances where he had to stop Crowe from spending ridiculous amounts of money.

\--

 Arumat’s mouth tasted like mint; a bit of toothpaste, but mostly the toffees from Edge and Reimi’s apartment. As Arumat broke the kiss, Crowe pushed another toffee into his mouth.

“I can feel my teeth rotting,” Arumat murmured. Crowe smiled and left the wrapper on the nightstand, adding to the pile.

“At least we can cross road trip off the bucket list,” he said. He watched Arumat gently suck on the candy, chew three times, then swallow. “But I’ve got another one.”

“Better be another toffee,” Arumat smirked, contradicting his last statement.

“Hey, come on, hitchhiking across Europe, that is _not_ something you can miss,” Crowe said, though he was already unwrapping another toffee. Arumat started at him with that unyielding gaze of his, only ever matched by a brick wall. “Okay, maybe next year. Gotta save up for plane tickets.”

Arumat sighed and rolled his eyes. “Shouldn’t I be making up my own bucket list?”

“Maybe, but we all know you won’t, which is part of why I’m here,” Crowe tossed the wrapper behind him and leaned in to kiss the other man again.

“I’m never going to get rid of you, am I?” Arumat asked when all the toffees were gone.

Crowe chuckled softly. “Nope, and we’re not having a repeat of the gas station incident, either, so don’t even think about it.”

“Didn’t even cross my mind.”


End file.
